Fidel Castro gives up Cuba's presidency

Almost half a century after seizing power in a guerrilla war, the iconic and combative Fidel Castro quietly ceded command of communist Cuba on Tuesday, ending his rule as the world's most tenured government leader.

The news met with low expectations for political change, however, among Cuban-Americans, Cubans on the island and U.S.-based analysts, even as the country's parliament prepares to pick a new president this weekend.

Fidel Hernandez, of West Palm Beach, walked into the Havana Restaurant to order breakfast and made little of the day's news.

"It's going to be the same," said Hernandez, who wore a red and blue baseball cap bearing a Cuban flag. "Nothing's going to change."

And at the curving seawall where Havana's young people drink rum and look out across the waters that lap South Florida shores, Dariel Cervantes reacted to Castro's decision with unsurprised pleasantries.

"Resigning will be better for Fidel. He's too old. He was always working. He didn't sleep," said the 22-year-old, fishing with friends.

The ailing Castro, 81, announced his resignation in a letter published before dawn on the Web site of Granma, Cuba's state-run newspaper. The move puts full power in the hands of his younger brother, Raúl, who took over as interim leader when Fidel Castro announced he was recovering from intestinal surgery in July 2006.

Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since then. He publishes periodic opinion pieces in the state press and is expected to maintain a key role in the Communist Party, of which he remains the leader.

Raúl Castro, 76, is seen as more pragmatic and open to market-oriented reforms than his brother. Several analysts said that could translate into small and careful economic changes, like more land given to private farmers and more licenses for entrepreneurs. Cubans are increasingly voicing frustration with meager salaries, poor transportation and government restrictions, such as those on overseas travel and Internet access.

"If Fidel had continued in power for another year, the rising discontent could have led to a social explosion," said political economist Antonio Jorge of Florida International University. "But with Raúl, there's a chance for an escape valve to release the social pressure. ... This is the beginning of a new era."

Reviled by many outside Cuba as a ruthless autocrat, Fidel Castro also has been cheered for his relentless opposition to the United States. He survived 10 U.S. presidents.

"I will not aspire to, neither will I accept ... the position of president of the Council of State and commander in chief," he wrote, referring to Sunday's parliamentary vote for a new leader. "It would betray my conscience to occupy a responsibility that requires mobility and the total commitment that I am not in the physical condition to offer."

The timing of Castro's resignation solved a conundrum for lawmakers divvying up posts in a new power structure. They no longer have to worry about whether it's permissible to vote for Raúl Castro over Fidel, who embodies the Cuban revolution to party officials. Analysts say Castro's resignation also opens the way for Vice President Carlos Lage, 56, a pediatrician who oversaw capitalist-style reforms in the 1990s, to play a stronger role.

"The succession has been quick, the transition will be slow and difficult," said Jaime Suchlicki, head of the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies. Suchlicki predicted that any economic reforms under Raúl Castro would be careful and incremental.

"He is not a reformer," he said of Raúl Castro, who was defense minister before taking over from Fidel, "and if you change the economy, the politics could change, too."

Cuba rolled back some economic changes of the 1990s after it formed an alliance with Venezuela. It swaps Cuban medical care for cheap Venezuelan oil. Some Cuba watchers see Fidel Castro's resignation as an opportunity to improve relations between the island and the United States.

Silvia Wilhelm of the Cuban American Commission for Family Rights said Washington should reverse a 2004 policy that prohibits Cuban-Americans from traveling to their homeland more than once every three years. Wilhelm said that provision keeps many Cuban-Americans from their parents' deathbeds and is inhumane.

"Engaging is the only way to have any kind of influence in the future of Cuba," she said, adding that she saw little chance of repealing the restrictions until the United States elects a new president.

President Bush also weighed in from a tour of African nations, saying Castro's resignation should be the beginning of a transition in Cuba leading to free elections.

Soon after he took the helm nearly two years ago, Raúl Castro hinted he was open to negotiations with the United States, but diplomatic contacts have remained icy.

Back at the malecon seawall, when Cervantes was asked whether he expected the government of Raul Castro to make changes to the economy, he smiled. "I don't know about politics. I know Raul said he wanted to improve transportation, and it got a little better. But I don't know about big changes."